


He Keeps His Word

by leslie_crusher



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Background Lydia Martin/Jordan Parrish - Freeform, Kid Fic, M/M, Single Parent Scott McCall, au everyone is human, background Isaac Lahey/Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 10:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3932770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leslie_crusher/pseuds/leslie_crusher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Isaac move into a new apartment. </p><p>There's pie, cats, a precocious four year old, more cats, meddling family members, and just a little bit of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Keeps His Word

**Author's Note:**

> Title from You Are In Love by Taylor Swift and has almost nothing to do with the story except for the "you keep his shirt" part.
> 
> Art by [monkeysmakebeautifulbabies](http://monkeysmakebeautifulbabies.tumblr.com)
> 
> Betaed by [Maya](http://whatthehalefire.tumblr.com) who is a saint for putting up with me.
> 
> Story inspired partially by QuickLikeLight's apartment complex AU.
> 
> Canon relationships be damned, everyone likes each other and you can fight me on that okay?

Everything started when Stiles and Isaac were moving their belongings into their new apartment. Isaac had ~~purposely~~ accidentally gotten them kicked out of their lease at their old apartment after he ~~eavesdropped~~ overheard Derek, the hot guy from the pie shop who Isaac was completely in love with, saying that he had a space opening up in the building over said pie shop, of which he was the landlord.

Stiles couldn't complain too much. Moving was a pain, but he had heard that Derek was a fantastic landlord who kept the building in good shape and was very lenient with rent, as he didn't actually need the money and was willing to let it slide if a tenant couldn't pay the full amount.

Apparently he was completely loaded. He didn’t even need to work in the pie shop, there were more than enough employees to run things without him ever stopping in, but he did it because he enjoyed both making the pies and talking with the customers. Or maybe he just liked talking to Isaac, Stiles was never sure but Derek did spend an inordinate percentage of his time at their table whenever they stopped in.

The new apartment was actually closer to Stiles' job and Isaac was honestly the only roommate he'd ever had, it would've been weird not to continue living with him. They'd been randomly assigned to a dorm the first semester of college and lived together since. It was rough going at first, as their personalities clashed pretty violently, but necessity is the mother of getting along with your roommate or something. It was a little like Chandler and Joey except they were both kind of Chandler, or at least neither of them wanted to admit to being Joey.

"Couldn't you just have borrowed some cats? I'm sure someone would've lent you a cat. You could've just flashed your stupid puppy eyes at them and then I wouldn't have to live in a zoo." Stiles grumbled for the 900th time as he struggled to carry a stack of three cat carriers onto the elevator.

The cats had been the final straw to their old landlord. _"I can put up with the loud music and_ _the moving furniture constantly and even when you kept stealing Harris's parking space; but I was very clear that there will be no pets without a deposit. You both need to be out of here by the end of the month!"_

"They don't have house cats in zoos, Stiles. Besides, don't act like you haven't completely grown attached to the little gray one. What did you name her?" Isaac had named the little blonde one, Erica, and the big black one, Boyd, after some friends he had in high school, but hadn't chosen the name for the little gray kitten. Stiles had planned on calling her 'that one' for her entire life but one night she curled up on his shoulder and he fell in love.

"Helen Mirren," he sighed. He may have been slightly intoxicated and watching The Queen at the time.

When the elevator reached their floor, they started to get off, but something startled Boyd and he jostled his carrier. It would've fallen, too, if it hadn't been for a passing stranger grabbing it in midair.

"Whoa there! Got it!" The stranger looked into the carrier and mumbled some soothing sounds at the frightened cat who, miraculously, settled. When he pulled the box down low enough that Stiles could finally see his face, time seemed to stop. He was a little shorter than Stiles, with tan skin and gorgeous eyes, his jawline was a bit uneven in a way that should've been weird looking but on him was so attractive. And his arms, Stiles could write epic poetry about those arms and the simple yet inexplicably hot tattoo wrapped around his bicep.

He smiled and suddenly the room was ten times brighter. "Hi! I'm Scott. You must be the new tenants!" He reached the hand that wasn't holding a cat out to shake before realizing that Stiles still had two cat carriers and didn't have a free hand. "Right. Do you need help getting the door?"

"That would be great," said Isaac (who, to be perfectly honest, Stiles had forgotten about) from behind his own stack of three large boxes of clothes.

Scott opened the door and Stiles led him into Isaac's room where they were going to keep the cats while they brought the rest of their belongings in to unpack.

"I'm Stiles. Well, you can call me Stiles. You have to be at least a level 8 friend to unlock my tragic first name." He introduced himself after the cats were safely locked away and he could finally return the handshake.

"He's not lying. I still don't know it and we've lived together for six years." Isaac explained from where he was separating the boxes into piles marked 'Isaac's stuff' and 'Stiles' shit'. "Isaac." He pointed at himself belatedly.

"It's so nice to meet you." Scott had a way about him that made Stiles actually believe what, from anyone else, would be a worthless platitude. "I'd love to stay and work my way up through the friend levels," he cast another gorgeous smile in Stiles' direction and it took everything Stiles had not to burst into flames, "but I'm late for my shift." Stiles noticed for the first time that Scott was wearing scrubs.

"Are you a doctor?"

"Veterinarian," Scott explained. "I live right across the hall. Don't be afraid to ask for anything. But later because I really have to go!" And with that he was gone.

Stiles collapsed heavily onto Isaac's shoulder. "I'm in love," he exhaled as he closed his eyes and started to picture his and Scott's wedding. Spring, definitely. Summer would be too hot but it would be a travesty for Stiles to not see Scott's skin glowing in the sun as he promised himself to him forever.

"Oh dear lord," Isaac scoffed rather exaggeratedly if you asked Stiles, "you're always in love. You never did get over that Heather girl from fourth grade. Or that girl you helped tutor in math freshman year. You only got over Lydia because you got all related to her and the pseudo-incest implication creeped you out."

"You're one to talk, asshole. I can't help but notice that we just moved into the building owned by the guy you're crushing on."

Isaac shoved Stiles off, barely reacting when Stiles landed in a heap on the floor. After a brief scuffle which ended with Stiles lying face down on the floor while Isaac sat on his back, they went to get more of their belongings from the van.

The new apartment was actually nicer than the one they had been evicted from. They had been so used to sharing their entire living space at college that they didn't have a problem moving into a one bedroom apartment before. Stiles took the actual bedroom while Isaac had set up in the living room. It had worked for them for years, but when Isaac had mentioned that the new apartment had two actual bedrooms and a whole kitchen, Stiles had suddenly found it in himself to forgive him for the whole risking homelessness to get laid thing. If the way Derek oh so subtly turned up to "help" aka flirt with Isaac, was any indication, there hadn't been any risk at all. It seemed to Stiles that his roommate's tragic crush was probably not as tragic as it had seemed.

Hours later, when Scott knocked on the still open door and poked his head in, Stiles was in the middle of putting together a bookshelf while Isaac and Derek put together the beds. Stiles had been hoping he would come back, but was surprised to see that he had changed out of his scrubs into jeans and a soft looking green henley and also seemed to have grown a small child out of his hip. Isaac looked equally surprised, but Derek smiled and waved at the kid so Stiles figured he must have been a normal attachment to Scott. The kid looked to be about four and should've been too heavy to hold so casually, but Scott didn't seem to have any issue. Chalk that up as another tally in the "Why Scott (find out his last name) Is The Perfect Husband" column.

"Hey guys, this is my son, Jackson" he explained. "Need any help? Jackson here is _really_ good at putting away silverware." The kid rolled his eyes in a way that he could only have learned from growing up around Derek and wiggled until Scott put him down.

"Hi new people. Hi Uncle Derek. Where are the kitties?" The adults all laughed and Isaac showed him to Stiles' room where the cats had been relocated while Derek and Isaac were putting together Isaac's bed.

"Sorry about that. He loves cats, but we can't have one because Liam is allergic." He didn't clarify who Liam was, but it seemed pretty likely that Stiles dream of a happily ever after would be crushed before it got off the ground. Isaac threw him a sympathetic glance.

"That must be hard with you being a vet. Can't imagine you don't come home covered in cat hair." Isaac said.

"Yeah, well, he charges me extra so he can buy his allergy pills." Isaac and Stiles shared a look of confusion.

Derek huffed a laugh and explained.  "Liam is the 16 year old from the 4th floor who babysits."

"Oooooh." Stiles and Isaac answered simultaneously.

With both Scott and Derek's help, the apartment became livable by the end of the night. The only things left to do were hanging pictures and getting the cable hooked up. but all that could wait. Derek and Isaac stole away for a few minutes to have some sort of private two-people-who-are-obviously-in-love-but-too-afraid-to-admit-it conversation on the balcony while Stiles followed Scott into his room to get Jackson. They found the boy sprawled out across Stiles' bed with Boyd and Erica on either leg and Helen Mirren sleeping on his chest. Scott snapped a picture to send to his mom before gently shooing away the cats and lifting the sleeping boy.

"It's been fun," he whispered as Stiles walked him to the hall, "or as fun as building furniture can be. We'll have to hang out with less manual labor next time." And then with another flash of that blinding smile, he was gone across the hall.

 

The next time Stiles saw Scott, at least for more than a few minutes when they were passing in the hall, was when Isaac and Derek were having some weird romantic dinner in Derek's apartment that Isaac kept insisting was not a date.

Stiles had been having a movie night with the cats when Helen Mirren started choking on something. She was making this terrible sound and couldn't seem to breathe. He scooped her up, sprinted across the hall and started banging on the door of Scott’s apartment. "Please be home. Please be home," he muttered to himself while he waited.

The door was opened by a blonde kid who looked kind of like how Isaac would look if his hair wasn't curly and he was really short instead of really tall. Stiles held up the hacking cat into the kids face and shouted "Where's Scott? I need his help! My cat might be dying!" The kid, in lieu of answering stepped to the side and sneezed several times. Right, Stiles' brain started to catch up to him, Liam, babysitter, allergic to cats.

Scott came out of the bedroom area when he heard the commotion and took Helen Mirren from Stiles. He was followed quickly by Jackson, who brought Liam a tissue and glared at Stiles with his little arms crossed. "You can't bring cats here, Mr. Stiles. Liam could **DIE**!" he chastised. All three adults (or pseudo-adults) in the room temporarily forgot their current crises to laugh at the ever so serious look on the child's face. Liam swung him up into his arms and kissed his face in thanks for the valiant rescue.

Scott, meanwhile, handed the now completely calm cat back to Stiles. "This is your first cat isn't it?"

Turned out it was a hairball.

On the bright side, Stiles finally had himself an excuse to see Scott more often with his complete ignorance in the ways of cat raising. On the not so bright side, Jackson didn't seem to like him very much.

Isaac and Derek mocked him rather mercilessly when they found out about it, but Stiles got them back when Isaac had a similar moment with Erica not a week later.

 

Two months and countless 'veterinary consults' later, Stiles felt confident enough in his and Scott's friendship to go to him in his time of non-feline-related need. And so he found himself standing outside the McCalls' door holding not a cat, but a pie.

Derek had made the pie as a bribe to get Stiles out of the apartment for the evening. He and Isaac had been inseparable since they officially got together a month before and they wanted some alone time.

"Hey, Stiles!" It was amazing to Stiles that after two months, Scott still greeted him every time with the most gorgeous smile on the planet, like he was genuinely happy to see Stiles. "Did Helen Mirren get trapped in the cabinet again?"

"Oh. No. She's fine.  Derek came over for dinner and then he gave me this and told me to leave so he and Isaac could have-" He cut himself off, remembering to look for Jackson who had suddenly appeared to glare at him from between Scott's legs. "-relations."

Scott's smile turned as lecherous as he was capable, which was not really all that much, and he nodded. "I see. Well, since you've been exiled, you're welcome here. We're watching The Last Unicorn." Stiles gave him a look and he went on the defensive right away. "Hey man, it's a classic! One of Jacks' favorites."

Speaking of Jackson, he had centered himself directly in the middle of the couch, as if he knew -and he probably did, the kid was crazy perceptive for a four year old- that Stiles had wanted to sit next to Scott. He was glaring at Stiles with his bright blue eyes in a way that was almost intimidating if Stiles wasn't very sure he could lift the child into the air with ease.

"I would love to watch The Last Unicorn with you, Scott. Is that alright with you, Jackson?" He'd found over the course of his time in the building that the best way to get Jackson to agree to something was to make him believe it was his choice. Jackson nodded, if a bit reluctantly, and Scott and Stiles joined him on the couch.

By the end of the movie Stiles was wiping his eyes and Jackson was making fun of him for being a baby. Scott stepped in whisked Jackson off to bed while scolding him about being rude to guests.

It did not escape Stiles' notice that when Scott returned it was the first time they had ever truly been alone together. Jackson was usually there, sometimes Isaac or Derek or even Liam. This was the first time it had ever been just Scott and Stiles. Not even Helen Mirren was there.

Scott offered Stiles a glass of wine and got one for himself. They sat on the couch, looking at each other while they each tried to think of something to say that wasn't super weird.

"He doesn't look like you."

Stiles realized before the words were even all the way out of his mouth that that was the wrong thing to say. Scott took it in stride, probably something he got often what with Jackson looking more like Liam the babysitter than his father.

"He looks like his grandfather. I don't know what was going on in my wife's genes that he came out looking just like her dad. He's all mine though."

"I...do you mind....can I ask-" Scott, actual saint that he was, cut Stiles off before he could make an even bigger stuttering mess of himself.

"She died.  About six months after he was born. Car accident on icy roads. Officially no one's fault. That's one of the reasons we came out here. Derek's my cousin by marriage," a fact which Stiles was very shocked he could have gone two months without knowing, "and her family is from this area. If he can't have his mom, I wanted him to have as much family as possible."

Stiles didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to respond to Scott telling him that his wife, the mother of his child, had died and left him a single father so soon after they had started a family.

Scott seemed to sense Stiles’ desire to say the right thing, but complete ignorance as to what the right think could be, so he let him off easy.  

"Hey, man, it's okay. You don't have to say anything. It's been a rough road, but I think Jacks and I have got it pretty well figured out. We've built a new family here." He paused, as if deciding whether to say what he was going to say next. "It's not that he doesn't like you. Well, it's not _just_ that he doesn't like you. He doesn't trust anyone trying to join the family, so to speak. I haven't dated anyone since Allison died, parenting was my only priority for a while, but now I've got this whole support system and it's probably time for me to try having a life again. That worries him I think. I have so little time between my work and his preschool that he's afraid I won't have time for him anymore."

"Da-dating? Are we dating?" Stiles didn’t want to get his hopes up but there were only so many ways to interpret what Scott had just said.

"I like you, Stiles." And for all of Scott's bright shining smiles that lit up the darkest of rooms, this little private smile was the most beautiful thing Stiles had ever seen.

In the end it was Scott who made the first move. He put a hand to the side of Stiles' neck and leaned in to kiss him lightly. It was chaste, very much a first kiss, but it was enough for Stiles to completely forget what to do with his hands. He dropped the wine glass he had forgotten that he was holding and then jumped back as the cold liquid seeped into his shirt. Luckily the glass didn't break but the spill was all over Stiles' shirt and the floor.

It took them both a split second to figure out what had just happened before they both dissolved into fits of laughter.

"Shit, man, I'm sorry." Stiles tried to sop up the wine that had spilled on the floor with a tissue that he grabbed from the box on the end table.

"No, don't worry about it. I live with a four year old, messes come with the territory. Your shirt though... you'll want to get that cleaned up. I've got some tide by my washer and I'll grab you something to change into. We'll have to get that soaking before it stains."

The shirt that Scott gave Stiles was the green one he had been wearing when he helped them move in. It was just as soft as Stiles had imagined it would be and it smelled of Scott and Stiles was quite sure he would "forget" to give it back for as long as possible.

"So," Scott came back from the laundry room, "how about we dig into that pie?"

~~~~~~

After the pie was nothing more than some crumbs, and a piece wrapped in the fridge for Jackson, Stiles found himself lying on the couch with Scott laying over him, kissing him in a manner that was so far from the chaste first kiss that it might as well have been a whole separate activity. Stiles had a way of putting his whole self into a kiss and Scott was right there meeting his enthusiasm. It didn’t feel like a first date kiss, it felt like the culmination of months of longing coming to a head, it felt like everything Stiles was missing.

It was interrupted by a text from Isaac telling Stiles he could come home. He would have ignored it but everything already felt like it was moving too fast. It was probably a good idea to leave before he ended up dragging Scott to bed on their first date. He was absolutely that type of girl but this was serious, important, and it deserved all the extra effort. Even if that meant awkwardly trying to will down an erection before going to face his roommate.

"I don't...I mean I think I should tell you to call me, but I'll probably see you before you get the chance. since you live right there and all. So, I guess I'll just say that you don't have to assault Liam with your cat anymore and you can just come over if you want to see me."

Stiles was kind of blown away by Scott's ability to sound so awkward and so sincere at the same time. He obviously was completely out of practice when it came to this kind of thing. Instead of being a turn-off like it would be with just about anyone else, it was just another thing about Scott that made Stiles sure that he was the best person in the world. He gave Scott another quick kiss and pulled back to see that blinding smile one more time before backing up enough for Scott to close the door.

He walked back across the hall and opened his own door. Derek was in the kitchen doing something on the stove and Isaac was laying face down on the couch. Stiles closed the door behind him and, before Isaac had the chance to react to his presence, flopped down onto Isaac's back. It was a move they were both familiar with so it took only some adjusting before they were both comfortable.

"You want some tea, Stiles?" Derek asked from the kitchen; though from the sound of it he was already pulling down a third mug from the cabinet.

"Yes please," Stiles mumbled into Isaac's shoulder.

Isaac let him lay there for another minute before he started to slowly shift himself out from underneath his roommate. Stiles got the message and moved himself up into a sitting position.

"Good night?" Isaac asked.

"Uh...yeah. Really good."

Derek came back over from the kitchen area and handed Isaac and Stiles their mugs before going back for his own. Isaac lifted his cup to take a sip but mostly to hide his smirk as he said, "Can't help but notice you weren't wearing that shirt before."

"I hate you." Stiles wished just once he could get something past his roommate. "Nothing happened. I spilled some wine on my shirt and had to change before it stained."

"So _nothing?_ Hmm?"

Stiles was beginning to wonder if Isaac was psychic when Derek decided to save him.

"You've got a-" Derek pointed at a spot on his own neck.

Stiles slapped his hand over the same spot on himself where he could remember Scott getting a little toothy and glared at Isaac for a good ten seconds before letting his glare melt into a smile.

"We made out like teenagers. It was amazing. I love him and I'm going to marry him."

Isaac laughed, but Derek had that look in his eyes that Stiles recognized to mean that he wasn't sure if it was his place to say something.

"What?"

"Nothing it's just...Scott's part of a package deal. Be sure you know what you're getting into. You can't have Scott without Jackson."

Stiles knew Derek was right and as he lay in bed that night, petting Helen Mirren while she lay on his chest, he considered whether he was really ready for everything that came along with dating a single father. But then he looked at Scott's shirt, draped over the back of his desk chair, and decided he'd learn to be the best damn...whatever you call a single parent's boyfriend in the world. Scott was worth it.

 

Of course, as was the way with Stiles’ life, everything came crashing down as soon as it started.

The next morning Stiles was fighting with Derek over the correct way to cook bacon ("Dammit, Stiles I'm a professional!" "This isn't pie! You're burning it!" "It's supposed to be crispy, you heathen!") while making breakfast for themselves and Isaac, who was still in bed with all the cats, yelling at them to get along through the opened door. There was a knock on the main apartment door, so Stiles abandoned the poor bacon to be burned by Derek and went to answer it.

It was Scott and he didn't look happy. Stiles immediately went on high alert. There was no good reason for Scott to not still be riding the high of last night like he was, unless something had gone terribly wrong.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" He asked, and that's how he and Stiles ended up in Stiles’ room with no Derek or Isaac or even Helen Mirren to listen in.

"I talked to Jackson about what happened last night. He doesn't approve."

That didn't actually surprise Stiles. All kids hated their parents' dates, it was just the way the world worked. Stiles didn't see why it should be a problem.

But apparently for Scott it was a big problem. He told Stiles that his son has to be his first priority in life and he has to focus on being a father, and making sure that his son is happy, before he can focus on his own happiness. He said that if the situation were different, he would like nothing more than to find out where their relationship could go. He said he wanted them to be friends if they couldn't be more and that he'd leave Stiles alone for a while, give him some space to accept the changes to their relationship.

Then he left.

About ten minutes later Derek came in with a plate of pancakes and bacon cooked exactly the way Stiles liked it. He wasn't sure if Scott had said something or if Derek was just observant like that, but he thanked him for it.

Another forty minutes passed and Isaac came in with all the cats in tow and lay down on Stiles’ bed with him. Stiles instinctively curled into his friend, as he'd done a hundred times over the years when one or the other of them was going through a heartbreak.

"Derek went across the hall to yell at Scott. He says he knows exactly what's going on and he's going to try and fix it."

"I don't know what he thinks he's gonna do," Stiles mumbled into Isaac's shoulder. "It doesn't matter anyway. We weren't even like... _together_. We had one night."

Isaac rolled his eyes, stuck his hand under Stiles' pillow, and pulled out a crumpled green shirt that Stiles had definitely not spent the last hour cuddling to his chest. "Please, Stiles. I know you better than anyone, except maybe your dad and Lydia. You love him. You like to hide it behind your jokes, and your cat, and you sweeping declarations that you don't think will get taken seriously, but you meant every word you said about him."

"Can we pretend, though?"

Isaac pushed and pulled and arranged pillows until they were sitting on the bed. Stiles still had his whole weight on Isaac's chest and his head on Isaac's shoulder but now they could see the tv. Isaac turned on Stiles' Playstation and set Netflix to play Friends. Stiles remembers how happy he and Isaac had been when the whole show got added to instant video and they could watch it whenever they wanted and not just when channel 4, or  9, 11, 33, 34, 38, or 49 felt like having marathons. He picked an episode way before Chandler and Monica first hooked up. He knew that the parallel of friends who live across the hall and fall in love and live happily ever after wouldn't help much in this instance.

They got as far as the Thanksgiving episode with Chandler in the box when Derek knocked on the door.

"Can I talk to Stiles?"

Isaac nodded and turned off the tv. "I've got to feed the cats anyway." He picked up Stiles' dishes from breakfast and quickly pecked Derek on the lips before leaving them to talk in private, all three cats following in his wake as if they heard him say there was going to be food.

Derek sat on the bed and considered his options for how to start. He and Stiles weren't super close. They weren't strangers by any means, Derek had spend plenty of time with he and Isaac over the two months they'd been dating, it was just unusual for the two of them to be together without Isaac for more than a few minutes.

“Scott’s mother, Melissa, she’s an amazing woman. but she has terrible taste in men. Scott’s dad was a drunk who left them and my uncle Peter is a huge jerk. Scott grew up miserable because he was forced to live with these men that he just hated. He doesn’t want that for Jackson. He won’t date someone that Jackson doesn’t like. It’s that simple.”

Stiles was thinking of how to respond when Isaac poked his head in.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we have a slight issue."

"What now?" Stiles already felt like curling up in a ball for a week or so, now he had to figure out how to make a five year old stop hating him, what else could go wrong? Stiles prayed that it wouldn't be that bad.

"Lydia's coming." It was that bad. Surprise visits were kind of Lydia’s _thing_. She almost never called ahead by more than a day.

"What?!? When?" It would be okay. If he had at least a day he could clean the apartment really well, take the cats to the groomers, do all the laundry (even the clean stuff) and get a haircut before she showed up.

"In like ten minutes."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!?"

"Who's Lydia?" For all that Derek was an imposing presence, he was easy to forget when the much, much more pressing matter that was Lydia Martin was at hand.

"Stiles' sister." Isaac explained.

"Step sister." Stiles corrected.

Stiles loved Lydia, he had even had a crush on her in elementary school before their parents got together, but she could be a bit of a snob. When they were kids she would always speak to Stiles from the hallway, raising a perfectly formed eyebrow at his clutter and refusing to enter for fear that she might catch something.  The apartment was nowhere near as bad as his childhood bedroom but it was definitely not up to Lydia Martin standards.

Stiles was considering just going for the fire escape but Isaac started throwing clothes at him and sending Derek into his own bedroom to change the bedding.

Sometimes Isaac was kind of a Disney princess. Always able to pull a formal presentation out of his ass at a moment’s notice, there was also the way the cats followed him around all the time.

Stiles was barely finished changing into something that wasn't dirty and wrinkled from lying around in bed all day when there was a knock at the door.

Stiles answered the door and gave Lydia a hug and a kiss on the cheek, she immediately gave him a look that said ‘I know something is wrong and you will tell me everything as soon as we have even one minute’ as clearly as if she had said it out loud.  She had always had a sixth sense for tragedy.

She was followed into the apartment by a man Stiles vaguely recognized as one of his dad's deputies, Palis or something. The man introduced himself as Jordan and shook Stiles' hand. Stiles gave Lydia a look of his own that conveyed an equally threatening message about keeping secrets.

Isaac and Derek came out of Isaac's room, Derek loaded down with the bedding  blocking all of him but his forearms from view. He went to drop it in the laundry basket while Isaac greeted Lydia. They had a routine that Stiles still didn't understand but it was always fun to watch.

He bowed down and kissed her hand like a southern gentleman from an old movie. "Miss Martin, I do declare, you are as lovely as ever." he said with an affected accent so fake he might as well have been from England pretending to be southern.

To which she curtsied and replied, "Why Isaac Lahey, you old flirt, you could charm the paint off a barn."

Jordan looked confused, Stiles took pity on him and explained that they do this every time. Derek appeared and rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. He didn't know this specific inside joke, but he knew that Isaac had a flair for the dramatic and absolutely no talent with accents so the whole thing almost didn't seem weird.

More introductions were made and Isaac and Lydia sized up each other's men with approval before Isaac excused himself and Derek and offered Lydia his room for as long as they'd need it.

"Jordan, do you mind giving me a minute with my brother?" She asked in that special Lydia way that wasn't a question at all.

"Of course...I'll just...sit with this cat." He picked up Boyd and kind of awkwardly sat down holding him. Boyd, chill as ever, just gave him a look before relaxing and letting himself be pet.

Stiles handed Jordan the tv remote and led Lydia into his room. She gave it her usual judgmental stare, but apparently deemed it worthy of her presence because she walked in and sat in the computer chair. Stiles sat on the bed and tried to decide the least awkward way to have the various conversations they needed to have.

She beat him to the punch. "Spill."

"Spill what?" Because even in their late 20s Stiles still reverted to a teenager when his step sister was around. But she was plenty used to his tricks and just gave him the eyebrow until he started talking. He told her everything, from the first day in the hall with the cat carrier to the amazing night that almost was and the disaster that followed.

"Well, you're just being stupid."

"Thanks Lyds."

"No, Stiles, you are being dumb. You knew going into this that he had a kid and you decided just to not care that the kid didn't like you. You should have no problem getting a child to like you, you're a child yourself!"

"Hey!"

"You know what he's going through. You know how you felt when your dad and my mom got together. You just have to explain to him that you're not stealing his dad, that you don't want to take him away, you just want to make him happier. You should have done this months ago but you didn’t because you’re being stupid!" She stood up, grabbed Stiles' hand, pulled him into a standing position and shoved him towards the bathroom. "Now go get pretty. You're taking me and Jordan to dinner."

Dinner with Lydia was nice. She always footed the bill so they could go to a nicer place than what Stiles could afford. She talked about her doctorate program and how their parents were holding up now that Stiles had abandoned them for the big city. He got to know Jordan, which was good because it seemed like he would be sticking around.

When they got back to the building they stopped into Derek's shop and bought dessert before heading back up to the apartment. Of course they ran into Scott and Jackson in the hall and of course Lydia had to stick her nose where it didn't belong and that's how Stiles ended up sitting around his living room eating pie with his step sister, her boyfriend, his very recent ex-something, and a five year old who hated him.

Jordan actually led the conversation with his stories of being a sheriff's deputy which gave Stiles time to consider his moves, he probably knew more about the Beacon County sheriff's department than Jordan did so he didn’t actually have to listen.

He had messed up. He had been so focused on Scott as a guy he wanted to date that he forgot to consider that Scott is a father and that being with Scott meant becoming a part of his family. You can't be family with someone who hates you. He had to get Jackson alone so he could talk to him, actually make an effort to understand his feelings. If that didn't work, bribery was always an option. No that wouldn't work, the kid's too smart for that. Maybe he could bribe Liam to let him take Jackson to the park or something. But did he really want to take a child who hates him to a public place where he could get lost or get kidnapped or tell people that Stiles had kidnapped him? Probably not.

"Is that okay, Stiles?" He snapped out of his stupor at the sound of Scott’s voice.

"Sure it is. He'll be fine." Lydia answered for him.

He didn't realize how long he'd been zoned out until he was actually addressed. He looked up just in time to see Lydia push Scott out the door. He felt a sharp kick to his foot and looked up to see Jackson glaring at him.

"The pretty girl took my dad to Uncle Derek's kitchen and the big guy went in there." He pointed a little finger towards Isaac's bedroom where Lydia and Jordan had set up for the night.

So maybe Stiles didn't have to worry about how to get Jackson alone because Lydia would arrange the whole thing like the big meddling meddler she was.

Now Stiles was alone with Scott's child, unsure how to proceed. Jackson sat down right in the middle of the couch and Helen Mirren jumped up and lay across his little legs. It was strangely inspiring to Stiles. If even his cat could get along with the kid there was no reason at all that he couldn't.

"Jackson, do you know who the pretty girl is?" He started, Jackson shook his head no. "She's my step sister. Do you know what that means?" Another no. "It means that my dad and her mom got married. So, we're kind of brother and sister, but I had another mom and she had another dad before."

"But you _can't_ have a new mom! There's just the one!" Jackson was clearly getting irritated by the idea, but Helen Mirren put her paw on his arm and he remembered her. Scott must have spent a lot of time teaching Jackson to be calm around animals.

"My mom died, too, when I was 8. And for a long time it was just me and my dad. I thought that was what I wanted, I didn't want him to replace my mom. But then he met Lydia's mom. I didn't like it at first, I thought he was going to forget my mom and that she was going to take over my whole family. But then I noticed something. When my dad was with her, he was _happy_. For the first time since my mom died, he seemed like he was my dad again, from before. Plus, I got a super rad new sister out of the deal."

Jackson looked like he wanted to argue the point but didn’t know how to say it without also saying that he didn’t want his dad to be happy. So, he just sat quietly and let Stiles continue.

“I’m not going to take your dad away. And I’m sorry if I kind of failed miserably at getting to know you. I’ll try to be better. We can go to the arcade or something sometime. I’ll let you beat me at air hockey.”

“I’ll beat you at air hockey anyway!”

“Maybe. But if you want to find out, you’re going to have to tell your dad that I can hang out with you guys. Would _you_ want to play air hockey with someone who doesn’t like you?”

Jackson thought about that for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Do you promise not to try to kill Liam again, though?”

Stiles stopped short. Could it really be that simple? Could the entire thing boil down to one frightened act involving a cat and a sneezing teenager?

“ _That’s_ why you told your dad you don’t want me around?”

Jackson nodded and put on the most serious face he could muster. “Well, some of that other stuff too. But if you come over all the time, you’ll bring your cat and then Liam can’t come over anymore. He’s my best friend except for Danny and who will watch me when my dad is fixing the puppies?”

Were Jackson anything other than a child, Stiles would have taken this time to be a sarcastic asshole. But Jackson was obviously very concerned and it wouldn’t do to further alienate himself from him. No, this went both ways, it was more than getting Jackson to like him. If Stiles wanted to be a part of Scott’s life he had to form a relationship with the child and relationships have to be built on respect. “Jackson, I promise, no matter what, I will never make Liam go away.” Wording was key here, he couldn’t promise that Liam wouldn’t go away eventually, because maybe he wanted to go to college, but he certainly wouldn’t go away because of Stiles or Helen Mirren.  
  


Stiles and Jackson had settled down to a game of Battleship when Scott and Lydia returned from their tour of the bakery. Jackson had just sunk Stiles battleship and won the game and Stiles was accusing him of cheating. Scott stared at the scene before him in confusion while Lydia just smirked and disappeared into the bedroom where her boyfriend waited.

Stiles looked up and saw Scott standing there and barely paused a second before jumping up and pulling him into a hug.

“Jackson says we can date now!” he half yelled into the confused man’s ear.

“Wait, he does? You do?”

“He promised not to kill Liam.”

Scott just nodded as if that made all the sense in the world. “Oh. That was nice of him.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is officially the longest thing I've ever written. Go me!
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](http://scottstilesliam.tumblr.com)


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